The Sweetest Day
by suchsmallhands47
Summary: Aurora and Killian are together in Storybrooke and it's Aurora's birthday. This is for Sleeping Hook week and the prompt was "chocolate." Set in an AU where a lot of season 2 didn't happen. Also, Billy's alive because THAT WAS JUST WRONG.


Killian woke early that morning with a smile on his face. At first he couldn't remember why he was so happy, but then he opened his eyes and saw Aurora's cascading hair on the pillow next to him, and his smile grew even wider. The sight of her always made him smile, but that morning was different. It was her birthday, and he planned for it to be as special as she was to him.

He got up quietly to avoid waking her, and made her an elaborate breakfast, which he brought to her on a tray. She was stirring by then, and when she saw the tray in his hands, she treated him to a smile of her own. "Happy Birthday, love" he said, and as he sat the tray over her lap, he leaned over and kissed her softly.

"Thank you," she replied. "I can't believe you went to all this trouble for me."

He slid back into bed next to her and skewered one of the sausages with his hook. "No trouble at all. Anything for my Princess." He bit into the sausage before adding, "And besides, there's a lot more where this came from."

Aurora eyed him curiously. "What do you mean? What tricks do you have up your sleeve?"

He shook his head and teased, "No no no. If I told you, it wouldn't be any fun. You'll just have to wait." She shot him a playful pout but didn't press.

"Did you dream?" he asked.

Aurora shook her head. "Not once. They spared me for my birthday."

In the three years since Aurora had come to Storybrooke, the Sleeping Curse had slowly started to fade, but she still had the occasional nightmare. Sometimes she would wake up screaming and Killian would hold her and speak to her softly until she fell back to sleep. Other times the nightmares weren't so severe but still unsettling, and she could never remember what happened in them after she woke. Killian was grateful they were becoming scarcer and scarcer. He hated the thought of her being afraid. She never had any good dreams. The curse had gotten rid of those forever.

They spent the next half hour eating and laughing before she had to get up and get ready for work. She was a music teacher at the school and although Killian tried to get her to skive off for the day, she'd been adamant. "You know I love teaching the children and some of them say they have more fun in my class than anywhere else."

She got out of bed and stretched. Killian admired her body in the silky nightgown and said, "I can think of ways to have more fun than the 8 year olds."

Aurora giggled and started towards the bathroom. "Scoundrel," she called over her shoulder.

He chuckled softly at that. "Scoundrel," he repeated softly to himself. There was a time when Aurora had called him that and really meant it. He'd deserved it, and many other, much worse words besides.

After Aurora had showered and left, Killian busied himself with cleaning the kitchen and then moved on to the rest of the house. He spent the time thinking about how much he'd changed since Aurora came into his life. For starters, he was living in a house on dry land… and enjoying it. He'd built his own fishing business and spent most days out on the boats with his crew, but he came home to Aurora every night. He of course still had his Jolly Roger out at the docks but Aurora got seasick and could never have lived on it. The old Killian would have said to hell with her then, but he knew even then that he loved her too much to stay apart from her. Now he was even thinking about getting rid of the ship. He didn't think anyone would want it, but he could always chop it up and sell it for firewood. He had made a lot of good memories on the Jolly Roger but also a great deal too many horrible ones. And he had to admit, the house had a few advantages to the ship, plumbing and electricity being the best of them. Killian had once spent nearly an hour trying to get David to explain how light switches worked. The problem was David didn't really have any idea either.

Killian was also just a much nicer person in general. He'd given up his quest of killing Rumplestiltskin-revenge started to seem pointless and took up too much room in his heart when he felt so much love for Aurora-and though they were never going to be best mates, they each tolerated the idea of living near one another. Killian had even made a few friends, David, Jefferson, and Whale being the main ones. It seemed Leroy was never going to trust him, but he was at least friendly with him now, as opposed to when they first met. But the person Killian seemed to have the most fun with was Ruby. They'd developed a snarky banter he'd never had with anyone else. Before Aurora came to Storybrooke, the two of them danced around the idea of a relationship; he thought she was gorgeous, and she was well aware of it. But nothing had come of their attraction and they'd ended up as just friends, possibly because they were too much alike. Killian had set his sights on Aurora and Ruby and Billy had… whatever they had going on. It seemed complicated.

Just after lunchtime, Killian called Ruby at Granny's to see how her end of the plans was holding up. "Everything's under control, Hook," she said. "Granny's cooking up a storm and Belle, Blue, and Leroy are decorating the town hall. Everything will be ready by six o'clock when Billy and I come pick you up. What about you? How's that cake coming? Has it fallen apart yet?"

Killian sighed. He could hear her laughing through the phone. When he had first been learning to cook, having only one hand had severely hindered his progress and the first cake he'd made had been a disaster. Of course, he hadn't told anyone it was the hook's fault, so they all thought he was just a bad cook and Ruby teased him about it mercilessly. But he'd gotten much better and he even enjoyed cooking now. "Quit your howling, wolf girl. The cake will be amazing. Tell Granny she can throw the spare one I KNOW she's making into the trash."

He heard Ruby laughing again. He noticed she didn't deny anything. "Okay, okay. I'll let you get started on your edible masterpiece."

After he'd hung up, Killian set about getting out all the ingredients he'd need and pulling out the huge mixer Aurora had gotten him for his own birthday nearly a year ago. His plan was to make a large sheet cake, chocolate with chocolate frosting. If anyone asked Aurora what her favorite thing about this land was compared to fairytale land, she would say chocolate. Every time. So Killian tried to give it to her as much as possible.

As the mixer whirred, Killian thought about the first time he'd had chocolate. Chocolate was one of the first things Aurora had eaten when she'd come to Storybrooke and she couldn't imagine how Killian had been here so long without trying it. His first taste happened just after she had finally agreed to start seeing him, after he'd spent so long wooing her, attempting to change into a better man for her, and making up for all the hurt he'd caused, to everyone else but especially to Aurora herself. They were at Granny's, which was where they always seemed to end up. It had been freezing outside and they'd bought mugs of hot chocolate to warm themselves. Killian had liked the chocolate and the warming effect it had, but he could tell as he watched Aurora close her eyes and savor every sip that he didn't love it nearly as much as she did. She drained the last bit of chocolate and set the mug on the table and Killian saw that she had a large spot of chocolate on the tip of her nose. He started chuckling, and she asked what was so funny. "You've got…" he started, but couldn't continue for laughing. She looked so damn adorable. Spontaneously, he leaned over and kissed her nose. He hadn't kissed her before, and she let out a gasp of surprise. But then she smiled, and said, "I think you missed." He shook his head but he kissed her again, this time on the lips. And it felt like they hadn't stopped kissing since.

By three-thirty, the cake was out of the oven and on the table cooling. Killian glanced at the clock and realized school would have just let out and Snow and Ashley would be taking Aurora for an afternoon of shopping. He was just about to jump in the shower when the phone rang. It was Aurora. Instead of hello, all she said was, "You cheeky devil."

He grinned. "What could I possibly have done this time, love?" he asked, though he knew perfectly well what she meant.

"You KNOW what you did. These flowers are from you. I don't care if there's no card."

He started. "What do you mean there's no card? Are you sure?" He'd written out an excellently worded, sappy love poem that he knew she would roll her eyes and giggle over when he'd ordered the flowers from the shop a few days before.

He could hear rustling, and then "There's nothing here. Maybe it fell out while they were delivering it."

Killian sighed. Those Game of Thorns people would be hearing from him. "No matter. I can recite the poem to you later when you're home… and naked."

He could almost feel her blushing through the phone. Still the bashful Princess. "Killian, they'll hear you," she whispered chidingly.

They talked for a few moments longer; Killian gathered that Aurora still had no idea about the party planned for later. After hanging up, he jumped in the shower, then made the frosting and put it on the cake. He finished by writing HAPPY BIRTHDAY AURORA in lavender, her favorite color, and drawing a border around the edge. He'd been right. It turned out perfectly this time. Maybe he should start a side business and give Granny a run for her money.

By the time Killian had finished getting ready, Ruby and Billy were pulling into the driveway in Billy's truck. Ruby scooted over to let him in, and he balanced the cake in its carrier carefully in his lap. "So do you think it's edible?" Ruby asked.

"Better than anything you've ever tasted."

She cocked an eyebrow. "We'll see."

Billy peered around Ruby and said, "Wait 'til you see the hall, man. Belle's seriously outdone herself this time. She even found a disco ball somewhere."

They pulled up to the town hall and Killian soon saw that Billy had been right. It didn't look anything like a town hall anymore. The long rows of chairs were gone, and many were lined up along the walls to make room in the middle for a dance floor. A long table with an enormous amount of food on it, all of which Granny had cooked, stood to one side. Shiny streamers covered the ceiling, and right in the center of it was a huge silvery orb that reflected light. He supposed that was what Billy had called the disco ball. He would have to ask Aurora later what that was supposed to be.

When Killian went over to the food table to put down the cake, he found Belle and Blue both running around, clearly in charge of everything. "You two have done an amazing job. It looks fantastic. Thank you so much."

Belle and Killian didn't exactly have any kind of friendship, due in no small part to her relationship with Rumplestiltskin, but she adored Aurora and he'd known that she would stop at nothing to make the party a success when he'd asked her to help. "No problem, Hook. Anything for Ror," she replied before rushing off to bark instructions at the people who were arranging the last of the chairs.

Killian unpacked the cake and put it next to another one, clearly made by Granny. "I suppose it's good she made a back-up after all," he said to Blue, "since it looks like Belle's invited the whole town."

Blue laughed. "I think Belle took care of one half and Ruby handled the other."

In another few minutes, the hall was packed with people and Belle announced that she'd just heard from Snow and they were on their way. The lights were dimmed and everyone waited. Soon they heard footsteps outside the door and Killian recognized Aurora's voice as she was saying, "I really should get home, it seemed like Killian was planning something spec…" and then the door opened, Leroy turned on the lights and everyone shouted "SURPRISE!" Aurora was clearly startled and her hand flew to her mouth as she let out a gasp of "Oh!" Everyone cheered and clapped.

Killian rushed to her and kissed her, wrapping her in his arms. "I should have known something was wrong when Snow said she needed to stop by the hall for something. You're amazing. I love you." She kissed him again.

"As much as I'd like to, I really can't take any credit. It was my idea but Belle and Ruby completely took over. They're the ones who were the captains of this ship."

Belle just smiled but Ruby performed an elaborate curtsey. "Just call us the queens of party planning."

Aurora looked around at everyone. "Thank you, ALL of you. I feel so special that so many of you are here."

Granny pushed her way through the crowd. "Let's quit jawing and get to partying. This food's not going to eat itself."

The next two hours were a whirlwind of eating and dancing and laughing. After that, the crowd started thinning as many people went home for the night. Aurora and Killian found themselves alone, sharing a piece of the cake he'd made.

"This has been the BEST day," Aurora sighed happily before eating another forkful.

"I'm glad you've liked it. I wanted to make you happy," he said, gazing into her eyes.

"You make me happy every day," she answered. Killian put a finger under her chin and was leaning in to kiss her when suddenly Aurora took her own finger and stuck a glob of chocolate on his nose. "I think you have a little something on your face. Shall I get it for you?"

She kissed the chocolate off but when she pulled away, Killian said, "I think you missed," and he gave her a long, lingering kiss.


End file.
